Books like The Mexican flyboy by Alfredo Véa

In *The Mexican Flyboy*, Alfredo Véa imagines a world where a man can rewrite the past. Simon Vegas, abandoned as a child and haunted by his Vietnam experience, spends years restoring a time‑travel device he inherited there. With the help of his eccentric friend Hephaestus Segundo, Simon launches into a series of daring journeys: from Southeast Asian jungles to Northern California vineyards, from Ethel Rosenberg’s execution to Joan of Arc’s pyre. Whenever cruelty strikes, the machine lifts the suffering away, carrying the dead to a utopian afterlife. Along the way, figures such as Vincent van Gogh, Malcolm X, Ernest Hemingway, and Amadou Diallo appear, while beloved living characters—Simon's pregnant wife, Elena, and his old friends—challenge his mission. The novel intertwines magical realism, science fiction, history, and comic‑book fantasy to explore themes of justice, trauma, regret, and the possibility of redemption. Véa’s work cross‑sells genre lines and invites comparisons to writers such as James Joyce, Jorge Luis Borges, Junot Díaz, and Michael Chabon, offering a fresh, thought‑provoking story about the power—and limits—of rewriting history.

First publish date: 2016